Container



March 15, 1966 Filed Jan. 20, 1964 E. W. BROMSTEDT, JR

CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 United States Patent 3,240,325 CONTAINER Earl W. Bromstedt, Jr., Glenview, Ill., assignor to E. J. Brach & Sons, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 20, 1964, Ser. No. 338,726 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-45) The present invention relates to containers for merchandise facilitating both shipment and storage of the merchandise and subsequent display thereof to the purchasing public.

, A preferred embodiment of the container is illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, when taken in conjunction with the following description, will acquaint those ski-lledin the art with the manner of making and using the container of the invention.

"In the drawings:

1 FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the container in its closed condition for shipment or storage of merchandise;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the container as it is being set-up for display of the merchandise therein;

QFIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the container set-up for display purposes;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the blanks constituting the two elements of the container;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the container particularly illustrating the top flaps thereof during assembly of the container; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevation of the container as set-up for display purposes.

Referring to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the container of the invention is illustrated as comprising a generally cubical box 10 having front and back walls 11 and 12, side walls 13, a top wall 14 and a bottom wall 15. The boxis formed from the integral blank 10a shown in FIGURE 4, which illustrates that the two side walls 13 are hingedly connected to opposite side edges of the front wall 11; and that the rear wall 12 is hingedly connected to one side wall 13 and carries a hinged glue tab 16 for hingedly connecting the same to the other side wall 13 when the blank is folded to rectangular tube form. With the tab 16 glued in place, the four-sided blank may be folded fiat, two plies thick, to facilitate storage of the box blanks until ready for use.

The bottom wall is formed from four separated flaps 15a, 15b, 15c and 15d hingedly connected respectively to the lower edges of the rear wall 12, one side wall 13, the front wall 11 and the other side wall 13, each flap being of a width equal approximately to the width of the wall to which it is hinged and of a depth equal approximately (in the preferred embodiment) to one half the width of the next adjacent one of the walls 11, 12 and 13. The box illustrated is preferably square or cubic, and the flaps 15 are thus shown as being of equal depth.

The top wall 14 is similarly for-med from four separated flaps 14a, 14b, 14c and 14d corresponding to the flaps 15a, 15b, 15c, and 15d, with the exception that the flaps 14b and 14d connected to the side walls 13 are each provided intermediate their widths with a delineation or slot 17 extending at right angles to the adjacent side wall and spaced at its ends from the edges of the respective flap. The delineations or slots 17 are disposed to align with the free edges of the flaps 14a and 140 when the box is set-up, and are therefore located centrally of the flaps 14b and 14d in the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

Along each side wall 13 there is a diagonal delineation 18 which extends from a point adjacent the upper edge of the wall in general alignment with the adjacent delineation 17 downwardly and forwardly to adjacent the front wall 11 of the box, and the lower forward ends of the delineations 18 are joined by a further delineation 19 which 3,240,325 Patented Mar. 15, 1966 ice is preferably spaced a short distance above the lower edge of the front wall 11. The delineations 18 and 19 are such that the material of the box is not severed therealong in initial fabrication, but are provided to define lines along which the box material may subsequently be severed for the purposes to be described.

The box 10 is set-up by relatively folding the walls 11, 12 and 13 to dispose the front and rear walls parallel to one another and the side walls 13 parallel to one another, with the tab 16 glued in place, thereby to form a peripherally continuous rectangular or square tube. An opposite pair of bottom flaps 15a and 150 or 15b and 15d may then be folded inwardly to bring their free edges adjacent one another, and the other pair of flaps 15b and 15d or 15a and 150 are then folded inwardly over the first pair of flaps and glued thereto to form a substantially imperforate double-thickness 'bottom wall for the box.

After the box has been filled with merchandise, such for example as a plurality of individual bags, boxes or packets of candy, the top wall flaps 14b and 14d are folded inwardly into a plane normal to the planes of the walls 11, 12 and 13 and to dispose the same with their free edges adjacent one another as illustrated in FIG- URE 5. In this position, the delineations or slots 17 are aligned with one another and extend at right angles to the sides 13 of the box. The flaps 14a and 14c are then folded inwardly over the flaps 14b and 14d and glued thereto to form a double-thickness top wall for the box. With the box 10 thus completed, as illustrated in FIG- URE l, the line or gap 20 existing between the free edges of the flaps 14a and is aligned with the delineations or slots 17. In this condition, the box comprises a shipping or storage container of conventional characteristics.

' When it is desired to merchandise the goods packaged within the box, the user need only open the box along the delineations 18 and 19 thereby to sever the box into two eomplemental triangular box sections, indicated respectively at T-1 and T-2. These two sections are then relatively foldable about the hinge or pivot defined by the delineations or slots 17 and the mating gap 20; specifically, the hinge flaps 21 formed by the edge sections of the top flaps 14b and 14d remaining after formation of the slots 17. Consequently, the user may then fold the upper forward triangular section T-2 upwardly and rearwardly about the triangular base section T-1 to dispose the flap 14c flush on top of the flap 14a, as shown in FIGURE 3, to form an upright triangular display stand having a large base shelf 15, a smaller intermediate shelf formed by the folded top wall 14, and inclined continuous side edges 18. By placing some of the contained goods on the shelf formed by the top wall, the user defines a merchandise display of especially pleasing aesthetic character.

While the upper triangular section T-2 of the display has been illustrated herein as comprising essentially the upper front quarter of the box, it is to be appreciated that the same may comprise more or less of the box by appropriate sizing of the flaps 14a and 140 and/or appropriate location of the delineations 17, 18 and/or 19 to afford a variety of display potentialities.

In addition to the box 10, the display container of this invention preferably includes a liner or reinforcer 30 of the same height as the interior of the box and of a peripheral size and form equal to the portion of the box over which the delineations 18 and 19 are defined, i.e., in the preferred embodiment, one half the box. Specifically, as shown in the lower part of FIGURE 4, the liner or insert comprises an integral blank 30a having an imperforate rear wall 32, a pair of side walls 33 hingedly connected to opposite edges of the rear wall and a pair of front wall panels 31a and 31b hingedly connected respectively to the free edges of the side walls 33. The rear wall 32 is essentially the same as the rear wall 12 of the box, the side walls 33 are each of one half the width of the box side walls 13 and the front wall panels 31a and 31b taken conjointly are of a width at least equal to that of the box front wall 11. When folded to rectangular tubular form, the insert corresponds to one half of the interior of the box and is inserted in that half of the box having delineations thereon when the box is being filled, whereby to form a reinforecement for the delineated wall portions of the box, as is particularly evident from FIGURE 2. Specifically, the wall 32 forms an intermediate divider between the two halves of the box, the side walls 33 reinforce the areas of the side walls 13 bearing the delineations 18 and the front panels 31a and 31b reinforce the delineated front wall 11. Consequently, the insert reinforces the delineated portion of the box and protects the contents of that portion against damage during shipment and during opening of the box along said delineations.

When the box is opened, the insert is readily removed from the bottom part of the box, some or all of the goods contained therein being placed on the display shelf formed by the box top wall 14, whereby the goods may be fully displayed.

As a further feature of this invention, the insert 30 is then utilized as part of the display to define an advertising or pricing panel or sign further enhancing the aesthetic appearance and merchandising value of the display. Specifically, one of the front panels 31a is provided therein with a slot 35 and the other panel 31b is provided at its free edge with a locking tab 36 adapted to be inserted into the slot 35 to form a rigid tube. For aesthetic value, the tube is preferably of trapezoidal form as shown in FIGURE 3. At their lower edges, the side walls 33 are slotted, as at 37, to accommodate mounting of the tubular insert on the upwardly extending portion of what was originally the front wall of the box but is now the rearwardly disposed wall of the triangular box section T-2. In this position, as illustrated in FIGURE 3, the imperforate rear wall 32 of the reinforcing insert 30 constitutes an advertising panel or sign for the display.

Thus, the invention has been shown to afford, in a convenient, economical and practical manner, a mechandise container facilitating both shipment and storage of the merchandise and subsequent display thereof to the purchasing public. The container is of particular economy, affording for the first time to my knowledge, an aesthetically pleasing commercial display of significant merchandizing value with no, or at least no significant, increase in cost over a conventional shipping container.

While I have shown and described what I regard to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to 'be appreciated that various changes, rearrangements and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A container comprising a rectangular box having front, back and side walls, a bottom, and a top comprised of flaps folded between said walls and secured to one another, said fiaps including a pair of first flaps hinged respectively to said side walls and extending toward one other between said front and back walls and a pair of second flaps hinged respectively to said front and backwalls, said second flaps extending in overlying relation to said first flaps into slightly spaced edgewise relation to one another and defining a gap transverse to said side walls, said first flaps each having a slot therein aligned with said gap and extending from adjacent the hinged edge to adjacent the free edge thereof, a diagonal delineation along each side wall extending from said gap between said second flaps downwardly and forwardly to said front wall, a delineation in said front wall extending between the lower forward edges of said diagonal delineations, and a reinforcer removably inserted in said box comprising wall means engaging each of the walls which bear delineations, said walls upon opening thereof along said delineations forming a pair of generally triangular box sections hinged relative to one another along said gap, the unslotted portions of said first flaps aligned with said gap comprising four narrow hinge means accommodating swinging movement of said sections to dispose of one of said second flaps on top of the other of said second flaps and thereupon define a generally triangular forwardly open merchandise display, said reinforcer being removable from the box and having slots therein for mounting the same on the portion of said front wall that is hinged to said one sec-ond flap as a sign for the display.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 558,100 4/1896 Peterson 20645 1,853,219 4/1932 Newton 20645 1,925,102 9/1933 Levkofi 22944 1,974,552 9/1934 Wall'bank 206-45 2,713,454 7/1955 Nute et al. 22951 2,881,967 4/1959 Ringler 22917 3,123,207 3/1964 Goldstein 20644 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. 

